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Bot Starts the Conversation

This guide shows you how you can have your assistant proactively start the conversation with a user. This is achieved by sending a message, /session_start on behalf of the user that triggers the session start pattern.

Modifying the Pattern Session Start

The Pattern Session Start is a pre-built flow that is triggered by the intent /session_start. You can modify it as follows,

patterns.yml
flows:
pattern_session_start:
description: Flow for starting the conversation
name: pattern session start
nlu_trigger:
- intent: session_start
steps:
- action: utter_hello

Triggering the Welcome Message

To trigger the welcome flow, you need to send the message /session_start on behalf of the user. How you do this depends on which channel users are talking to your assistant.

Using a Chat Widget

Some Chat Widgets (including the Rasa Chat Widget) offer the option to send a structured message when the user opens the chat window. Configure this to send the message "/session_start" and users will see the actions defined in Session Start Pattern.

Using an API call

If you are using a custom channel or the rest channel, you can send a POST request with a payload like:

{
"sender": "user1234", // sender ID of the user sending the message
"message": "/session_start"
}